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Queen's Baton Relay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Queen's Baton Relay, similar to the Olympic Torch Relay, is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The Baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Relay traditionally begins at Buckingham Palace in London as a part of the city's Commonwealth Day festivities. The Queen entrusts the baton to the first relay runner. At the Opening Ceremony of the Games, the final relay runner hands the baton back to the Queen or her representative, who reads the message aloud to officially open the Games.[1]
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The Relay was introduced at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales. Through the 1994 Games, the Relay only went through England and the host nation. The Relay for the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was the first to travel to other nations of the Commonwealth. The 2002 Relay covered over 100,000 kilometres and went through 23 nations.[1]
The Melbourne 2006 Queen's Baton Relay was the world's longest, most inclusive relay, travelling more than 180,000 kilometres and visiting all 71 nations that send teams to the Commonwealth Games[2] in one year and a day. The Queen's Baton Relay started, as it traditionally does, at Buckingham Palace and ended in Melbourne, Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It carried a message from the Queen to the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
The baton contained 71 lights on the front, representing the 71 member nations of the Commonwealth Games Federation. A video camera built into the front of the baton recorded continuously as the baton travelled, and a GPS tracker was fitted, so that the baton's location could be viewed live on the Commonwealth Games Website.
- Melbourne 2006 - John Landy, Governor of Victoria.
- Manchester 2002 - Premiership footballer David Beckham & Kirsty Howard.
- ^ a b Queen's Baton Relay: The tradition continues.... Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ The Commonwealth of Nations has 53 members. However, the four Home Nations send separate teams to the Commonwealth Games, as do individual British Crown Dependencies, several British overseas territories, the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, and two non-sovereign states in free association with New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Niue.